History of Scottsdale, Arizona - Most everyone has read of Scottsdale's golf courses, resorts, fine dining, and shopping to name a few. But do you know how Scottsdale began?
Scottsdale is named after an Army Chaplain named Winfield, Scott. But did you know that another town is also named for him in my home state? It's an interesting coincidence since my 
father grew up in that small town in Kansas. Too bad he isn't here to know the trivia and History of Scottsdale, Arizona!
Winfield Scott was a preacher for most of his life and was born in Michigan in 1837. His family relocated back to the family farm in New York. He studied literature at the University of Rochester and went on to the Rochester Theological Seminary and became a Baptist minister. He then married and entered the Civil War, gathering volunteers and became their Captain. He was then sent to Kansas where he stayed for six years, starting up a string of churches. The grateful residents named a town in his honor, Winfield, Kansas.
He was then sent to Denver by the Baptist organization as his fundraising capabilities were becoming recognized. He started a small mining company, which failed. But he was gaining knowledge as a developer, which would serve him in the future.
Scott then relocated to California where he served as a "financial agent" for a California College. He also assisted with the editor for a Baptist newspaper while there. While in California he began studying the irrigation methods of the citrus trees.
He then entered the US Army as a Chaplain and proceeded to transfer from Idaho, to Oregon to Washington where he built congregations. In 1888 he answered the invitation to visit Phoenix, population 3,000. He stayed briefly but returned and bought 600 acres outside of town. His brother joined him and soon they had planted barley, a vineyard and an orchard. Scott started out with 50 orange trees, but the following year added 1,500 more trees! He was so successful that the following year he brought 55,000 trees from California for his neighbors to plant.
Unfortunately, the area flooded in 1891, wiping out most of the trees. The town became known as Orangetown, but somehow was re-named as Scottsdale and a statue has been erected in Scott's honor. No one knows exactly how that happened, but the name stuck. History of Scottsdale, Arizona shows that he entered into politics and was steadily promoting Scottsdale to those back east and the population grew rapidly. The first Scotsdale post office opened in 1897 and the town was now on the map.
"On his deathbed (1910), he wrote a special testament for the people of Scottsdale that read in part, "I leave you my work in Scottsdale... If you take this work and do it, and enlarge it as God gives you strength, you will receive my blessing and His." (Arizona Republic, 2/26/2000)
Today, Scottsdale's population is 240,000, but increases as much as 50,000 when winter visitors descend upon the city. The city boasts high end shopping, upscale dining, but equally serves casual fare making everyone welcome. Whether you visit us for the Waste Management Open (Phoenix Open) or the Barrett Jackson Car Show, there's always something to do in Scottsdale! Thanks for reading "History of Scottsdale, Arizona."
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